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Friday, July 17, 2015

Super Junior - Devil


It's gonna be a pretty K-Pop heavy couple of weeks, as tons of big new releases continue to be announced. SM Entertainment, in particular, seems hellbent on making sure every one of their artists gets a comeback before summer ends. Super Junior is certainly one of their most prominent groups. I'm not 100% on board with all of their material, but they definitely have their fair share of classics and a ton of awesome album tracks to back them up. Devil is the new single, and it's the kind of track that is so unbelievably catchy that it'll either capture you from the get-go or drive you crazy. I'm a bit obsessed with the chorus, but my god it's been stuck in my head for the past few days. So even though I love it, I'm also kind of pissed at it. Those harmonies, though! Just try to shake this from your head.

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Thursday, July 16, 2015

GOT7 - Just Right


With each release, I've fallen more and more in love with GOT7's music. I was a little late to the party, skipping past their debut in early 2014, but then I became absolutely obsessed with last summer's A (still their best song). Then, group member Jackson joined my favorite (and sadly cancelled) Korean variety show, Roommate, and... well if you've watched any of Jackson's variety shows, you'll know that he's pretty much impossible to dislike. Last fall, the group released the supremely underrated and fantastic Identify album, and I've been waiting for a follow-up ever since. The weird thing about GOT7 is that they release totally different types of songs each time they comeback. Just Right seems to be a hybrid of the skeletal hip-hop of their debut Girls Girls Girls, and the summer-time, melodic pop of A. It's got an incredible hook, with a clever, relaxing melody and one of the best music videos of the year. While I was hoping for something a little more uptempo and in-your-face for the summer, I really can't help but adore what we ended up getting. It's quite an unusual, oddball pop song but it makes you feel oh so good.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Darin - Juliet


Darin released his new single today in Nordic countries, and in doing so pretty much confirmed that he is fully committed to this new folk-pop sound (at least for this album). Juliet is slightly more uptempo than his last single, but otherwise sounds very similat. Honestly, very few people can get away with this kind of Mumford-and-Sons-lite music without driving me absolutely crazy. It's just not my thing. I did, however, love Darin's last release. This one doesn't quite measure up in comparison, but it's a fun summer song and I suspect that it's going to grow on me in a major way. If I'm being selfish, what I'd really like to see is this kind of sound fused with the anthemic club music he was releasing during his stint on Så mycket bättre in late 2012.

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Monday, July 13, 2015

Infinite - Bad


The kings of Korea are back! I'm definitely biased, because Infinite are my favorite band on the planet right now and it's not even close. Over the past year or so, they have entered the hallowed pantheon of god-like artists in my mind, sitting comfortably beside Janet/Michael Jackson and The Ark. As they started teasing for their comeback last week, I was a little disappointed that they seemed to be going for more of an urban sound this time. While I love urban music, it's not why I like Infinite. Because of this, Bad will probably never be my favorite Infinite single, but I was so pleased that the song isn't just some hip-hop trend-follower. No, the classic Infinite drama is there, from those powerful, emotive vocals to one hell of a string section. If the first portion of this song doesn't get you pumped up, then I just don't know how to fix you. I've even come around to that "bad, bad, bad, etc" hook, despite my dislike of choruses that simply repeat one word over and over again. It's certainly no Back, but it would be unfair to raise expectations that high for two singles in a row. I still adore it, and I'm hoping for a lighter, more melodic song to follow up (dare I dream of something as mind-blowingly perfect as a The Chaser sequel?). Oh yeah... and the music video is super badass.

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